Spreenkler: Idea Networking on Creativity and Innovation

This blog is dead!

That's right, I'm killing this blog. We're getting ready to launch a new website for Spreenkler, LLC so all of the updates on our community, meetups, ideas, etc. will be located on our new site. 

If you'd like to keep up with my thoughts around social technology, design and innovation, you can do so at my NEW blog, 111Words.com.

Thanks,

Steve

Officially On The Speaking Circuit For Social Media

I've enjoyed the privilege of being asked to speak at several venues over the past few months. From universities to companies and various community business improvement districts. The topic has been focused on how to use social media for various results: to network and make meaningful connections, to get a job, to grow business and more like this.

Over the course of the first few of these presentations I put together the following to guide the presentation:

• Overview: What is social media?
• The numbers: Stats on who's using it.
• How do companies get started?
• 7 most common ways companies use it.
• How are companies in your industry using it? (helps to get a key competitor list prior to presentation)
• How to begin to create a social media road map and plan.
• List of resources, examples, etc.
• Question/Answer session. 

For presentations to students, I change it up a bit if the focus is on using social media to get a job. 

If you're interested in learning more or having me speak to your organization you can contact me at steve@spreenkler.com.

Steve

Brew City Brand Apparel Design Spreenkler Label Tees

Frank Keppler [twitter] from Brew City Brand Apparel was kind enough to have his team put together a few prototypes for Spreenkler tees that Sara Gehl [twitter], he and I [twitter] have been working on. His hustle allowed me to take the tees on my visit to Zappos.com this week. I gave them away as thank you gifts and everyone there loved them!

I also received a few positive comments from some of you on Twitter [here and here], as well as questions about when we'll have them available for purchase. That's coming soon. We should have more details at the next Spreenkler Meetup on Wednesday, March 4 [details].

Spreenkler tee prototypes.

My Experience At MKEKre8Kamp2009

On Wednesday, February 5, a group of about 40 people came together in a quiet part of Delavan, Wisconsin to contemplate the future of arts and culture in the seven county Milwaukee region. The mission: create a plan for sustainability. The challenge: get fully immersed in collaborative design over the next two days. 

I was extremely lucky to take part in this event and I’d like to share my experience. To keep things simple, I’m going to simply list the highlights in bullets. If you have any questions or would like more info you can reach me at steve@spreenkler.com or 262-353-6562.

The planning committee for the event came up with the name MKEKre8Kamp, not to be confused with Cre8Camp, the unconference for creative industry professionals. It was something we could have fun with for the couple of days.

What truly impressed me was the group of people that attended. All are leaders in their field. Some represented foundations. Others, corporate entities. There were artists, gallery owners, and executive directors of performance groups. Elected officials and owners of interactive and design companies. And I flew in Lucia Willow, Community Manager for Pandora Radio (@pandora_radio), who brought an outside view to arts, culture, creativity and social media. I immediately realized I was very lucky to be part of this event.

As much as I was impressed by who WAS at MKEKre8Kamp, I was also surprised by who was NOT. We were missing some key elected officials. MKEKre8Kamp brought renewed energy to, and even more important, A PLAN for economic development in this region. I sure hope that whatever was more important was indeed more important.

Day One

• Day one started at 7:30AM and ended at 6:00PM. No mobile phones. No laptops. No breaks. We even worked through lunch with reading assignments. We then had an hour break but had to be back by 7:00PM for group dinner. All of this is done to keep us focus and create stronger bonds so we can work together more efficiently and with more trust.

• Day one also brought a flurry of activities. We all had our own white boards when working alone and giant white board panels when working in groups. We began with a vision of the future of arts and culture in the region - what it could be. We then had to communicate how that happened on our white boards. We shared the results with our team. 

• Then, we were put into other teams around specific aspects of arts and culture. My team was “economic development.” I began to see specific examples from other communities as to how arts and culture plays a larger role in the economy. 

• We then joined a different group and we had to artistically convey how all the pieces needed for a thriving regional arts and culture community come together (artists / facilities / funding / creative agencies / corporations / education). The day ended when we finished our project knowing all the groups would present first thing the following morning.

• Dinner on day one was great because it’s where a lot of constructive conversations take place as we all reflect on what we went through during the day. Plus, people seemed relieved that they were finally able to check email and voice messages:)

Day Two

• We opened with group presentations. Some groups did this through dance, others through music or acting. A couple, including us, did so by creating a piece of art. It was hilarious, entertaining and insightful. Not only in how each group presented their ideas, but in how each person in each group had reached a level of understanding of the importance of ALL of the elements needed in the arts and culture community, whether they were part of that element or not. You couldn’t help but see that  if anyone came into day one with apprehension or doubt about the intentions of MKEKre8Kamp, those feelings were gone. 

• This was a great transition to what came next—a group discussion to talk about what had happened so far, what needs to happen, any concerns people had about that and what challenges we thought might stand in our way. Through this discussion themes emerged. These themes became the areas of focus for our group: vision, leadership, planning, communication, re-investmetn/efficiencies, education/workforce development, and “low hanging fruit” - what we could do NOW.

• After the discussion we decided as a group what tasks and responsibilities fell under each area of focus. Once that was finished, each of us could sign up for a one of the areas of focus, becoming a team to tackle that area of focus. We were then given time to take the list of tasks and responsibilities and determine what we were going to accomplish that day, in the remaining 3 hours. We had to report this back to the group and get the group’s approval.

• In just a few hours we had incredible results. Our vision team not only crafted the vision statement and values, but also a vivid picture of the benefits of that vision ten years from now. Then our planning team inspired everyone with their plan for a follow up summit to bring together all the arts, culture and creative people and groups that were not at MKEKre8Kamp, share what happened at MKEKre8Kamp, and ask them to get involved. As these and the rest of the teams presented each made commitments for the future success of this initiative. (videos of all this here mkekre8kamp.com)

• There was one final activity. Each of us wrote on a paper band what we were going to do to continue to support the effort. Then, one by one, we announced this to the group and linked our bands together.

In The End

What truly impressed me about how this ended is that it wasn’t about how to strengthen funding for the arts. Instead it created a vision for a creative community with a regional approach to economic development. This is going to make a huge, positive impact on the future of the region. Stay tuned for next steps.

Sohobiztube.com Launch Party At The Iron Horse Hotel

Sohobiztube.com-a B2B Social Website For Growing Businesses To Brand, Position and Connect-Announces Launch Party!

Where: Iron Horse Hotel - 500 W Florida Street -Milwaukee, WI

When: Friday, February 6th at 5:30pm

RSVP: Cd Vann, cd@sohobiztube.com

Launch Party Agenda: 

5:30-6:15 Arrive, Networking

6:15-6:30 Welcome from Steve Glynn, President of SOHO Publishing Advisory Board and Spreenkler LLC

6:30-6:45 Julia Taylor, President, Greater Milwaukee Committee

6:45-7:00 Al Krueger, Founder, Comet Branding

7:00-7:15 Introduction of SOHO Publishing Advisory Board

7:15-7:25 Welcome from Cd Vann, President of SOHO Publishing

7:25-7:45 Demo of sohobiztube.com with Cd and Steve Robinson from Frog Neck

7:45-8:00 Thank you and closing remarks including announcement of Naked Biz Seminar in May with keynote speaker Brian Kalma from Zappos.com, a company that just made Fortune's Top 100 Places To Work at #23.

 

LIVE Demo | Door Prizes | Professional Connections | Meet Twitter Followers | Meet Facebook,  Linkedin & Sohobiztube.com  Connections! 

From Mary Beth Gaspar-Waite on Palomar Cancellation

The following is from Mary Beth Gaspar-Waite. Although she personally contacted every person that had purchased or was contemplating a purchase at the Palomar, she also put this message together for them. Mary Beth sent this to me so that I could share with you, the Spreenkler community--a group she admired after meeting so many of you last week. 

Please know that Mary Beth is authentic in her passion for the Milwaukee community and in helping people move their ideas forward. She is also driving several initiatives to strengthen the women's business network and support structures in the area. 

Since meeting Mary Beth in September she has been nothing but gracious and supportive. In every interaction she has proven to be a class act. Although the Palomar situation is extremely unfortunate, I'm positive Mary Beth and her team (Megan and Stephanie) will continue to thrive while supporting and creating new business opportunities and connections!

Steve Glynn

Dear Friends,

We are disheartened to inform you that Gatehouse Capital has permanently suspended its development plans for the Palomar Hotel & Residences in the Park East area of Milwaukee.

Since the opening of the sales center in May 2008, Buyers signed contracts totaling millions of dollars and put their hearts into the re-invention of a neighborhood.  Gatehouse Capital has announced several nationally recognized operating partners for the restaurant and spa, and have continued to advance drawings and constructions plans.  However, as the residential and credit markets have worsened to historical record levels, Gatehouse Capital attempted to obtain a higher level of assistance from the City – which unfortunately failed to materialize.

The approval of this funding, A Tax Incremental Financing package (TIF) would have allowed the project to continue.  The Palomar would have created over 600 jobs during the construction phase.   Once completed, The Palomar would employ 230 people in full time positions with benefits for the Hotel and community service operations.  We needed these jobs for the men and women of Milwaukee!   The hotel would have boosted tourism and convention business for the city and added an additional 175 rooms which in turn would have fueled dollars into local businesses.  Additionally the presence of the hotel, restaurant and spa would have helped generate business for local advertising and marketing firms by branding each of these unique companies which were all new to our community.  Finally, Kimpton hotels, dedicated to being a partner in Milwaukee’s long term progress, had set aside a large amount of funds to be given to local nonprofit enterprises each year.

The TIF request was all part of expanding and gentrifying the former Park East into an area we wanted to call The McKinley District.  Similar to the Historic Third Ward, arches, boulevards, plantings, children’s playgrounds and lighting would have created a better sense of place reaching several blocks South and North of the project.  Gatehouse has a powerful history of exactly this kind of neighborhood development. In Dallas, the company’s Victory Park project spurred more than a billion dollars worth of housing, retail and commercial development.  They saw potential in what this corner of Milwaukee could become, but the City’s last minute request to operate a union hotel- which was not part of our original agreement- compromised the economics of the project.

It is a painful loss for everyone concerned, especially in light of recent announcements by other local companies of job cuts.  In the final analysis, the project is simply impractical in this new business climate without a much larger assistance package from the city.

We thank you for visiting us throughout the last year.  If we can help you with your real estate needs, please feel free to contact us.  The Palomar website will be taken down within the next few days, along with the email addresses.  Please contact me at the phone number & email address below.

Thank you,

Mary Beth Gaspar-Waite

Metro Condo Connections

Cell: 414.213.5055

Fax: 414.906.9395

First Official BizStarts Milwaukee Network Event!

Tuesday, December 9
4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. 
Grohmann Museum
1000 N. Broadway, Milwaukee

Attend our event at The Grohmann Museum, home of the Man at Work collection, and take advantage of this opportunity to connect with entrepreneurs and service providers along with the BizStarts Milwaukee board of directors and governing council members. Also, hear two featured entrepreneurs briefly tell their stories.

Meet Dr. Eckhart Grohmann, a legacy Milwaukee entrepreneur, who donated his Man at Work collection to the Milwaukee School of Engineering. View the entire collection, which comprises about 700 paintings and sculptures that span more than 400 years of history, beginning around 1580. 

This event is free of charge. There will be a cash bar. RSVP by contacting Monica Graham at We Energies, 414-221-3225 or monica.graham@we-energies.com.

The Ripple Effect of Spreenkler

I’m keeping an eye on the future
an eye on the past
& the present in my pocket
just in case I need a door…
tonight spreenkler celebrates two years of bringing people together to discuss creativity, technology, milwaukee, marketing, startup strategy and the blending of all of the above, providing inspiration to those who fight every day for the survival of good ideas with one outcome in mind: be better at what you do. two years and dozens of speakers, presenters and idea sharing innovators later we look ahead to what we can and will accomplish in 2009. we will take this wave, this upswell and resurgence of the creative class and make it more widespread and more influential than ever before. we will bring new ideas to light. we will help create companies. we will develop and keep the talented people we have here because they will see that now, more than ever, their ideas and opinions can be heard and action can result. but tonight, we celebrate. join me and learn from twelve people what keeps them going. how they get through challenges and avoid quitting. again and again. have a beer and a slice of pizza while doing that. oh, and some kick ass live music from meta four jazz featuring @tapps.

into a brave new world where all solutions end up with my head.
Buried to my neck in sand.
the creative, innovation and business startup processes can be daunting. don’t give up, we can help. that’s why spreenkler is. we can be a sounding board for your idea. we can prepare you for conversations with an attorney or an accountant. we can connect you to a designer, programmer, marketer and more. we understand. after all, we do this for ourselves too.

Enough, enough bowing down to disillusion!
Hats off & applause to rogues & evolution!
The ripple effect is too good not to mention.
If you’re not affected, you’re not paying attention!
It’s too good, too good, not to have an effect.
the milwaukee region is changing. quickly. there are stronger calls for unity of creatives, young and experienced professionals and entrepreneurs. each day that we move this forward the established business institutions see things are changing. they will soon begin to adapt. that’s when it will tip. that’s when we will also be recognized for our creative and technology companies. too many good, productive and thought-leading things are happening for us to continue unnoticed. for example, in january 2009 mayor barrett will be our featured speaker. in february, mayor nelson from waukesha. they’re paying attention.

I’m keeping an eye on the pulse
an ear to the track & penance in a locket
I’m dropping from the highest floor.
keep emailing me. keep calling me. i will continue to help. together, we will get through whatever you think is holding you back from realizing your idea. we will shed all hesitation.

When it hits ground I watch it smash to pieces.
Songs of liberation echo from the dust.
we will continue to embrace our manufacturing roots and continue to be a manufacturing capabilities leader. but, with you, we will also push into the future and create a new milwaukee.

December Meetup Speaker & Band Info

NEXT MEETING: 5:30PM WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 3, 2008

AGENDA

5:30 - 6:00 Meet in the Flowspace for Creative Socializing

6:00 - 6:40 Past Speaker Presentation 

6:40 - 7:00 Showcase New Creative Thinkers

7:00 - 8:30 LIVE MUSIC!

LOCATION Bucketworks! 

REFRESHMENTS: PIZZA + BEER + SODA + BOTTLED WATER

FEATURED SPEAKERS: Creative speakers from the past two years come together to provide updates (2-3 minutes each) on their initiatives, how they’re moving forward and thoughts on Milwaukee’s future. Speakers will also be available at 7:00 for conversation and additional questions.

Dean Amhaus, President of Spirit of Milwaukee, will provide insight to Milwaukee's emerging water industry. spiritofmilwaukee.org

Cd Vann, Publisher of magazineSOHO and Founder of sohobiztube.com, will discuss the relaunch of sohobiztube.com, a Web 3.0 business social networking resource and her journey into blog talk radio. sohobiztube.com

Erica Conway, Owner of C2 Graphics Productivity Solutions will reflect on being part of Milwaukee’s 40 under 40 Class of 2008, launching the 2008 Creative Transitions Conference and other exciting new projects she’s working on. c2gps.com

Casey Payne (Miltownkid), will provide an update on the launch of his online barter community. miltownkid.com

Frank Keppler, Chief Designer and Owner of Brew City Brand Apparel, will provide an update on where the one of Milwaukee’s long-standing brand’s is going with fashion design in 2009. brewcityonline.com

Dave Fantle, Vice President of Public Relations for VISIT Milwaukee, will provide an update on what VISIT has planned for 2009 in terms of building awareness for the Milwaukee brand. visitmilwaukee.org

IDEA SHARE Showcase of creativity and creative people in unexpected places. Each will give a 4-5 minute demonstration of their creative approach and purpose. Speakers will also be available at 7:00 for conversation and additional questions.

Aga Artka A passionate, ambitious interior designer born and raised in Southern Poland, Aga has always been attracted to great architecture, stunning historical spaces, traditional motives, and amazing uses of color and pattern. agaartka.com

John Leaf An author also known as "the nickname guy," John is ultra passionate about the meaning behind words. Which led him to explore nicknames: where they come from and how they impact the people. John will share a few nickname stories that have inspired him to write a book on the subject. nicknamestories.com

Andrei Slobtsov Born and raised in Russia, Andrei teaches, studies and approaches the art of graphic design like few others. andreis.carbonmade.com

James Carlson The Director of Bucketworks will give a bit of insight into how he approaches solving problems that demand creativity new thinking. bucketworks.org

ON DISPLAY LIVE MUSIC from Meta Four Jazz! metafourjazz.com

Open Session For Student Design Contest

I will be at the Starbucks on 16th and Wisconsin Ave. on Tuesday, September 23rd from 9-10pm.

I'm holding an open Q&A session for all students interested in learning more or sharing ideas on the Student Design Contest, Spreenkler in general or anything school/job/career related.

No need to RSVP or reserve time, just show up.

If you want to meet a bit earlier or later, send me an email at steve@spreenkler.com so we can arrange that.

If you can't make it at all, email any questions you have.

Steve